December 2020 Privacy Policy – Updated February 2023
home52 is a wholly owned, non-profit subsidiary of Council on Aging of Southwestern Ohio.
Our Commitment to Privacy
Your privacy is important to us. Council on Aging/home52 (“COA”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting it through our compliance with the below policy.
This policy describes the types of information we collect from you or that you may provide when you visit help4seniors.org or home52.org (the “Websites”) and our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting and disclosing that information.
Information We Collect
This policy applies to all information collected or submitted on the Websites, including via email and related third-party web applications, as well as data maintained in COA’s information systems. This statement also applies to information we collect in order to process commercial transactions (event registrations and donations) initiated by visitors on our Websites.
This policy does not apply to information collected by COA offline or through any other means, including on any other websites operated by COA or any third party; or by any third party, including through any application or content (including advertising) that may link to or be accessible from or on the Websites.
Please read this policy carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your information and how we will treat it. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, your choice is not to use our Websites. By accessing or using the Websites, you agree to this privacy policy. This policy may change from time to time. Your continued use of the Websites after we make changes is deemed to be acceptance of those changes, so please check the policy periodically for updates.
Event Registrations
COA uses a third-party vendor, Constant Contact, to manage registrations for COA-sponsored events. When registering to attend a COA-sponsored event, you will be directed to an event page on Constant Contact’s website. There, you will be asked to provide us with personally-identifying information about yourself, such as your name, e-mail address, telephone number, address, organization name and/or credit card information.
Payments and Donations
On some pages of the Websites (and related third-party websites) you may be invited to make a donation to COA or register for an event sponsored by COA using your credit card. We do not accept credit card payments or donations directly via the Website. Instead, we use a third-party provider, PayPal, to securely process via SSL all credit card transactions, including event registration fees and donations.
Information We Receive
On your own initiative, you may decide to send us personally-identifying information. This includes information provided at the time of registering to use our Websites, subscribing to our service or newsletter, posting material or requesting further services. We may also ask you for information when conducting a survey or when you report a problem with our Websites. For example, you may choose to fill out a form on the Websites or send us an email. This information will only be shared internally for the purposes of responding to your request. This information may also be used to demonstrate need for a particular service or program, but no personally identifiable information will be used without your prior consent.
Through the Websites and other related third-party services, you also have the option to sign up to receive periodic updates about programs, services and issues relating specifically to you, or more generally to older adults and people with disabilities in our community (i.e. electronic newsletter or SMS/text notifications). To sign up for this service, you will be asked to provide your e-mail address and/or mobile phone number. You may opt out of these communications at any time.
You also may provide information to be published or displayed (hereinafter, “posted”) on public areas of the Websites or transmitted to other users of the Websites or third parties (collectively, “User Contributions”). Your User Contributions are posted on and transmitted to others at your own risk. Although we limit access to certain pages, please be aware that no security measures are perfect or impenetrable. Additionally, we cannot control the actions of other users of the Websites with whom you may choose to share your User Contributions. Therefore, we cannot and do not guarantee that your User Contributions will not be viewed by unauthorized persons.
Information We Collect Automatically
As you navigate through and interact with our Websites, we may use automatic data collection technologies to collect certain information about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns, including:
- Details of your visits to our Websites, including traffic data, location data, and other communication data and the resources that you access and use on the Websites.
- Information about your computer and internet connection, including your IP address, operating system and browser type.
We also may use these technologies to collect information about your online activities over time and across third-party websites or other online services (behavioral tracking). The information we collect automatically is only statistical data and does not include personal information, but we may maintain it or associate it with personal information we collect in other ways or receive from third parties. It helps us to improve our Websites and to deliver a better and more personalized service, including by enabling us to:
- Estimate our audience size and usage patterns.
- Store information about your preferences, allowing us to customize our Websites according to your individual interests.
- Speed up your searches.
- Recognize you when you return to our Websites.
The technologies we use for this automatic data collection may include:
- Cookies (or browser cookies). A cookie is a small file placed on the hard drive of your computer. You may refuse to accept browser cookies by activating the appropriate setting on your browser. However, if you select this setting you may be unable to access certain parts of our Websites. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you direct your browser to our Websites.
- Flash Cookies. Certain features of our Websites may use local stored objects (or Flash cookies) to collect and store information about your preferences and navigation to, from and on our Websites. Flash cookies are not managed by the same browser settings as are used for browser cookies.
- Web Beacons. Pages of our Websites and our e-mails may contain small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags and single-pixel gifs) that permit the Company, for example, to count users who have visited those pages or opened an email and for other related website statistics (for example, recording the popularity of certain website content and verifying system and server integrity).
We do not collect personal information automatically, but we may tie this information to personal information about you that we collect from other sources or you provide to us.
Third-Party Use of Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies
Some content or applications, including event registration, PayPal or advertisements, on the Websites are served by third parties. These third parties may use cookies alone or in conjunction with web beacons or other tracking technologies to collect information about you when you use our websites. The information they collect may be associated with your personal information or they may collect information, including personal information, about your online activities over time and across different websites and other online services. They may use this information to provide you with interest-based (behavioral) advertising or other targeted content.
We do not control these third parties’ tracking technologies or how they may be used. If you have any questions about an advertisement or other targeted content, you should contact the responsible provider directly.
How We Use Your Information
Information we collect, either directly from you or automatically on the Websites (via cookies, etc.), may be used to present our Websites and their contents to you; to provide you with information, products or services that you request from us; to fulfill any other purpose for which you provide it; to carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any contracts entered into between you and us, including for billing and collection; to notify you about changes to our Websites or any products or services we offer or provide though it; targeted online advertising tracking website usage; in any other way we may describe when you provide the information; and for any other purpose with your consent.
We do not share your contact information with outside parties, except for the purposes of conducting COA business. We use return e-mail addresses to respond to your inquiries or send information you have requested. Your e-mail address or phone number will never be shared with or sold to outside parties, except for the purposes of conducting COA business.
COA will never sell any of your personally identifiable information to anyone. If COA has an event or promotion in collaboration with another organization or business, we do not give the other entity your mailing information. We do submit the names and addresses of our supporters to a printing/mailing company in the form of a mailing list when we send out mass mailings (i.e. annual reports), however the company with whom we contract these services is legally bound to keep your information confidential and cannot share your information with any outside organization or business.
Disclosure of Your Information
We may disclose aggregated information about our users, and information that does not identify any individual, without restriction.
We may disclose personal information that we collect or you provide as described in this privacy policy:
- To contractors, service providers, and other third parties we use to support our business and who are bound by contractual obligations to keep personal information confidential and use it only for the purposes for which we disclose it to them.
- To third parties to market their products or services to you if you have not opted out of these disclosures. We contractually require these third parties to keep personal information confidential and use it only for the purposes for which we disclose it to them.
- To fulfill the purpose for which you provide it.
- For any other purpose disclosed by us when you provide the information.
- With your consent.
We may also disclose your personal information:
- To comply with any court order, law or legal process, including to respond to any government or regulatory request.
- To enforce or apply our terms of use and other agreements, including for billing and collection purposes.
- If we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property or safety of COA, our customers or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.
We may use the information we have collected from you to enable us to display advertisements to our advertisers’ target audiences. Even though we do not disclose your personal information for these purposes without your consent, if you click on or otherwise interact with an advertisement, the advertiser may assume that you meet its target criteria.
Our Commitment to Data Security
To prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy and ensure the correct use of information, we have put in place appropriate physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration and disclosure.
All information you provide to us is stored on our secure servers behind firewalls. Any payment transactions will be encrypted using SSL technology via PayPal or Constant Contact to securely process credit card transactions, including donations and event registration fees.
Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we do our best to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information transmitted to our Websites. Any transmission of personal information is at your own risk. We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the Websites.
Our Commitment to Children’s Privacy
Protecting the privacy of the very young is especially important. For that reason, our Websites are not intended for children under 13 years of age. No one under age 13 may provide any information to or on the Websites and we never collect or maintain information via our Websites from those we actually know are under the age of 13. In addition, no parts of our Websites are structured to attract anyone under 13 to provide information to us. If we learn we have collected or received personal information from a child under 13 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information. If you believe we might have any information from or about a child under 13, please contact us at the phone number below.
How to Opt Out or Correct Your Information
At any time, you may request not to receive any e-mail or SMS/text communication from COA or to opt-out of the collection and use of your information by COA for marketing, promotion, or solicitation purposes. We retain your request so that it will be respected in the future. You may opt out using one of the following methods:
Email: Communications Department
Phone: (513) 721-1025 (ask for Communications Dept.)
In writing:
Council on Aging of Southwestern Ohio
ATTN: Communications Department
4601 Malsbary Road
Blue Ash, OH 45242
Using one of the contact methods listed above, you can correct factual errors in your personally identifiable information by sending us a request that credibly shows error. To protect your privacy and security, we will also take reasonable steps to verify your identify before making corrections. We may not accommodate a request to change information if we believe the change would violate any law or legal requirement or cause the information to be incorrect.
How to Contact Us
If you have other questions or concerns about these privacy policies, please call us at (513) 721-1025 or send an e-mail to COA’s Communications Department.
Links Policy
Any links contained on our Websites to external websites are for information and education purposes only. These external links are ones that we have determined contain information of relevance or importance to the Websites’ users (people, contracted service providers, businesses or community organizations looking for programs, services, resources or information relating to aging or disability services). For more information about any links please click here to learn more about our links policy.
Endorsement Policy
The Websites may contain advertisements or content related to long-term care planning (including financial and estate planning), health or medicine, which is made available for informational purposes only. No content is intended to substitute for professional advice, diagnosis or treatment. COA does not recommend or endorse any specific care facilities, providers, tests, products, procedures or opinions.
The Websites provide information and resources to help you make informed decisions about aging or disability-related issues. The advice of a physician or qualified provider should be sought for any medical, health care or financial planning questions you might have.
The inclusion or exclusion of any advertisement, content and/or external link does not constitute endorsement, disapproval or liability on the part of COA of such material.
Acceptable Use
The contents of the Websites including text, graphics, images and other material contained on the Websites are the copyrighted work of COA and are for informational purposes only. The contents of the Websites may only be reproduced and/or disseminated within the following guidelines:
- Our Websites, and your internet browser, includes tools that allow you to print, save or otherwise share information that may be used for personal education or professional training.
- Information (including graphics, photos, images and text), may not be cut and pasted from various pages of the Websites to make new documents or otherwise be used by third parties (unless otherwise noted).
- Photos and quotes used throughout our Websites may not be used or reproduced in any way except as outlined in this policy.
When in doubt, please contact COA’s Communications Department.
Photos used on the Websites come from a variety of sources, including photos commissioned or taken by COA staff, and stock photography purchased or acquired from third parties.
Changes to Our Privacy Policy
It is our policy to post any changes we make to our privacy policy on this page. If we make material changes to how we treat our users’ personal information, we will notify you by email to the email address specified and/or through a notice on the Websites’ home page. The date the privacy policy was last revised is identified at the top of the page. You are responsible for ensuring we have an up-to-date active and deliverable email address for you, and for periodically visiting our Websites and this privacy policy to check for any changes.